Author Comments

CONTROLS - customizable
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Arrow keys to move
Z to jump
X to shoot a weapon
C to shoot a weapon (and hold still)
M for map (you can use TAB, but it won't work in IE)
ESC or P for the menu (pause)

ABOUT THE GAME
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Snailiad is an 8-bit-inspired game, which uses the NES palette most of the time, and uses NES music I wrote using Famitracker. I hope you enjoy it! :-) There's some references to eight-bit classics that helped inspire Snailiad, and you might also find a cameo or two from RPG Shooter: Starwish, if you play long enough.

Big thanks to:

AdamAtomic, for Flixel!
xdanond, for drawing some stuff!
newstarshipsmell, for lots of testing!
jsr, for Famitracker!

ABOUT SAVE DATA
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Starting with Flash Player 10.3, Flash save data gets DELETED if you clear cookies or browser history. If you're having trouble with saves, this list might help:
1. Don't clear your cookies or history
2. Make sure the Flash Storage Settings say "Unlimited"
3. Make sure "private browsing" is OFF
4. Make sure "clear browser history on exit" is OFF
5. Make sure "block sites from setting any data" is OFF (for Chrome users)
6. Don't run a program that deletes stuff, like CCleaner or Better Privacy

FINDING 100% ITEMS
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Once you defeat the final boss, you unlock the "radar"! The radar tells you how many items are left in the current area.

HIDDEN MODE
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There's a hidden mode in Snailiad! Once you've unlocked it, it will be one of the choices in "NEW GAME", below EASY and NORMAL.

TROUBLESHOOTING
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If you set your browser zoom below 100%, the bottom and right sides of the game will get cut off. Please make sure your zoom is at least 100%!

Reviews

Rated 5 / 5 stars2011-06-28 00:56:30

Old School? Yeah!

this game is amazing, I really missed this kind of WAY TOO LONG GAMES, you must go rest..but you keep on thinking about it, how you went through it, how much excited you are about turning your console on to keep on playing, to finish it... Fantastic work, kind of WTF when I got the Gravity Shell but anyway very good, SO unpredictable (which is good IMO)
when I discovered the first hidden item I was like I WANT MOOOOORE! >:D such a good game you have here.

Rated 4 / 5 stars2011-06-28 00:54:37

It may be Metroid with a snail...

But it's a damn good game! Everything from the sound to the level layouts and enemy positioning was stupendous. Metroid is probably one of the hardest NES games to reproduce without copying and you did a wonderful job. The whole wall climb mechanic is extremely well implemented and everything is very, very smooth.

As for improvement...
For the most part the graphics looked great, but i do feel that you could have put a tad bit more effort into the snails themselves. The flowers, walls and enemies all have shading, but the snails seem to void of any lighting whatsoever. This is minor, however.

The only glaring problem I felt this had was the invisible wall's foreground images. If you could have dimmed them a bit or something so that we could see where the snail was after being completely inside a secret area then that would have been much better than wondering around blindly. Also, the bullet layering is a bit weird in them, too. While firing any sort of projectile while inside a secret passage you were able to see the bullets as if they were coming from nowhere. This issue could be solved by making rendering the ammo 1 layer deeper than the walls, so fixing it may or may not be something you'd like to do.

Overall, this is a really fun game and I enjoyed every second of it. Yes, it could use some tweaks and such, but as complex and massive as this I'm not surprised there isn't more. Thanks for making this, it was a nostalgic blast! Grats on the Daily Feature and keep up the great flash games!

Rated 5 / 5 stars2011-06-28 00:54:26

The above URL links to a 99% map with most of the less obvious secret passages marked on it. You can find 100% items with this map too. I finished the game and created this map in order to help myself find the last secret area. It's been driving me nuts for about 6 hours, and I still can't find it.

I offer this to anyone who might find it useful. If there is somebody who used my map, found it helpful, and happened to find that last itty bitty area, I would greatly appreciate it if you would PM me and tell me. Please. Please. Oh so much please. Help me. I'm so obsessed.

If you have read my above plea for help, you know how much this game has sucked me in. The world in which you play is large, and there is a loose framework that players are encouraged to follow but not forced to do so (unlike many other games of this particular genre).

There are goals to be achieved, sure, but the atmosphere is generally carefree and relaxed. It's not difficult to avoid dying, what with the plenitude of grass to eat (which grows back!!!) and hit point upgrades to find.

One of the key features of this particular game seems to be all the secret passages and breakable walls. Even when you know that it's all programmed in, as a player, you feel a certain sense of glee slipping behind walls and breaking them apart, because not many games let you do that all over the map. It feels like a sort of freedom to be able to do that.

Bosses are challenging but not break-the-keyboard-with-your-head-in-
combined-rage-and-self-loathing levels of frustrating. I'll admit to feeling a certain sense of chagrin upon seeing that the end boss was twofold, but it turned out that the real last boss operates on an easily discernible pattern.